wienerdog Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 I have a 20g. I came home and all my softies were closed up. I checked all my parameters they were all fine. However, my salinity was 1.031...explains it!! How much should I change out in order to bring it down. I am going to change out the water with fresh RODI water. Link to comment
Dani3d Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 hard to tell, just remove some saltwater slowly and add gradualy some freshwater at the same temperature. How are you mesuring the salinity? because a hydrometer is not precise and to really mesure the salinity it is best to use a refractometer. I have a 20g. I came home and all my softies were closed up. I checked all my parameters they were all fine. However, my salinity was 1.031...explains it!! How much should I change out in order to bring it down. I am going to change out the water with fresh RODI water. Link to comment
sefrayser Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Just a suggestion, calibrate your refractor. I had a similar problem and come to find out my refractor wasn't calibrated. I would also suggest using calibration fluid, not ro water. Link to comment
rdahlke1105 Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 I would suggest using the calibration fluid as well. Especially since I read this article. http://blog.captive-aquatics.com/captive_a...using-rodi.html Link to comment
wienerdog Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 I used a hydrometer. I changed about 10% Looks like it's gonna do it. I am now down to 1.025. I am gonna invest in a refractometer. Things are opening up a bit. Link to comment
youincolor Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 whoa dude you dropped it .06 in one water change? keep an eye on the tank, that was huge. Link to comment
Pickle010 Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 whoa dude you dropped it .06 in one water change? keep an eye on the tank, that was huge. I agree - I would of just shot to bring it down a point or two max - your salinity didn't jump to where it is in 10 minutes. It took time to get that high and allowed your live stock a chance to get used to it. Taking it back down fast can shock the tank and be more detrimental than the high sg. I'd leave it alone now - you might be fine but watch for any die off just in case. Same is true for just about anything else with your tank ... you never want to change any parameter real fast. Link to comment
wienerdog Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 Ruh Roh...I actually turned the lights off afterwards. My elegance actually opened up after the change. Apparently it was pissed and not pleased. Thanks for the heads up. Always learnin somethin new...like that! Wish me luck.... Link to comment
Dani3d Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Dropping the salinity is not has hard on livestock as raising it but it should always be done gradualy and slowly. Problem I see is that you have NO idea what is your real salinity and although you think it was 1.030, it could very well be 1.035 or 1.010. Hydrometer are often way off. So before you do anything, I would definitly have the water checked by a local LFS just to see how much your Hydrometer is off and they you will know at least the real salinity or close to it. If you know that your hydrometer is .006 degree higher than you can compensate until you get a good refractometer. On ebay they cost around 25$ with ATO (automatic temperature compensation). Ruh Roh...I actually turned the lights off afterwards. My elegance actually opened up after the change. Apparently it was pissed and not pleased. Thanks for the heads up. Always learnin somethin new...like that! Wish me luck.... Link to comment
gulfsurfer101 Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 How are you topping off, you have an ato set up (autamic top off). If not are you replacing evaporated water with ro water or just doing water changes and not topping off with ro water. How did your salinty level climb so high in the first place. Link to comment
wienerdog Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 How are you topping off, you have an ato set up (autamic top off). If not are you replacing evaporated water with ro water or just doing water changes and not topping off with ro water. How did your salinty level climb so high in the first place. I just did a WC yesterday. When I cam home today all my stock looked funky. Checked ALL my parameters...great. Except my salinity was high. when I did my WC I must of jacked up my SG. So, I pulled about 10% and topped it back off with fresh RO water. I always top-off with fresh RO and I do WC's with Primed, Marine RO water. So, the tanks salinity was off for a day. But, it was definitely long enough for my softies to get pissed. Hopefully, I didn't cause any damage. Mistakes can be costly in the salt side of this hobby. BTW, I used to surf the Gulf when I was stationed in Pensacola...goes off when the hurricanes come in...had some fun there. Link to comment
gulfsurfer101 Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Your salinty should remain fine if your topping off as your tank evaps. Ato is the best way to go about it. I use mine to dose kalk water into my tank as it evaps to keep my calcium in check and my salinty never goes off by much. Hurricane season can be fun around here and sometimes pretty gruesome. Nothing brings out the idiots like a good hurricane party! Link to comment
wienerdog Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 Your salinty should remain fine if your topping off as your tank evaps. Ato is the best way to go about it. I use mine to dose kalk water into my tank as it evaps to keep my calcium in check and my salinty never goes off by much. Hurricane season can be fun around here and sometimes pretty gruesome. Nothing brings out the idiots like a good hurricane party! I am sure about the kook parties...the same goes around here. My tank is ina remote part of my house and all I have are a couple of 5g buckets next to it. How would I use an ATO in that situation? Link to comment
gulfsurfer101 Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Kinda like mine I guess. I have a 5g bucket set off to the side with a toms aqualifter hooked up to a floatswitched powered ext. cord. That way when the water evaps my floatswitch sets off my aqualifter delivering fresh ro water to my tank keeping my salinity at the same level. Link to comment
wienerdog Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 Is there a certain kind of ATO for our set-up? Or will any one do? Link to comment
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